How Do I Tell A Boy I Want To Kiss Him?
by ABCsoup
Summary: "He's an asshole," Stiles huffed. Liam snorted, and resolved to take Stiles' character review with a grain of salt. Stiles wasn't exactly pleasant all the time, either. Where Isaac comes back to visit everyone's favorite alpha and Liam's maybe kind of jealous except no he's not because he and Scott have a strictly platonic werewolf mentor relationship.


**Format might be kind of weird, sorry.**

Liam couldn't help it.

It was a completely foreign feeling. He'd had crushes before, he'd thought. But none of them had been like this. All those girls- they had been passing attractions.

When they were 12, Mason had mentioned he was in love with the guy that had sat across from them in science class. The next week it had been the hot new janitor at school. The week after that, the 16 year old behind the counter at the convenience store that had given him an extra dollar in change when he'd bought a pack of sour worms. Mason had taken that as a sign of true love, rather than a failing of California's educational system.

Liam had always been jealous of Mason for that. Yeah, he'd been an overdramatic, lovestruck pre-teen, but at least that was normal. Sure, through the years, Liam had felt vague desire for girls, but they'd never been close to anything approaching _love_. He understood passion- fistfights and lacrosse under stadium lights and studying his ass off for a test only to get a C-. But he'd never connected that feeling to a person before. Genevieve Markson had given him a blowjob after he won MVP for the school team in eighth grade, and it was good. But he hadn't wanted to kiss her, or hold her hand, or really do anything more with her.

This feeling he felt for Scott? He'd never felt it before. And he wished he could talk to Mason about it, because Mason was way more in touch with his feelings, and he bet he'd know what this feeling was. But Mason wouldn't understand just how intricate his and Scott's relationship ran. He couldn't ask Mason whether he felt this way because Scott was his alpha, or if it meant more.

**xxxxxxx**

When he ran into Scott on his first day of school, he was driven by this intense need to impress him. He wanted the spot as team captain, and he knew he had a chance, with the murmurs around school that he'd caught being that McCall was an amazing player, but he hadn't been serious about the game in a while, always disappearing at random times and often coming to practice with his head in the clouds.

Liam had dedication. When he walked into school that morning, he'd had every intention of taking that spot as captain. That had lasted only until he'd actually met McCall and his weird sidekick, the Sheriff's son with the strange name.

He'd seen him, and he still wanted that position badly. But he also wanted Scott to like him. He wanted Scott to see his value as a player, and not to resent him as competition.

When he ended up at the hospital with a broken ankle, he had to admit that maybe he hadn't exactly accomplished that goal. He didn't want to seem too bothered by it, because it really shouldn't matter that much. But the idea of McCall hating him didn't sit well with Liam.

In the aftermath of the bite, he understood that Scott McCall was an absolute psychopath and maybe the weird feelings he was getting had been a sixth sense warning him not to get on Scott's bad side, lest he end up strangled and dead in the woods.

After he confirmed that Scott was not, in fact, psychotic, but Liam just suffered from a decreasingly-rare case of 'having werewolves in your life,' he could no longer pass the feelings off as a warning. So he decided they were probably just natural feelings a beta had for his alpha. He continued to hold this delusion until Isaac.

**xxxxxxx**

He was vaguely aware that there had been other betas before him. There was Derek, the older man that lurked around town and the high school on a disturbingly frequent basis. His uncle, Peter, who'd been the one to bite Scott. He was pretty sure Lydia had at some point dated at least one werewolf, possibly more. Scott's guest bedroom was still set up like there was someone living in it, and it stank like wolf. He always kind of felt like the pack was dancing around a million little sad secrets.

He'd mentioned he'd been allowed to pick any book he wanted for his book report and he'd picked The Hunger Games, because he'd liked the movie and because Katniss was a badass with a bow and arrow, and the whole room had gone silent.

He'd be more bothered, but he wasn't the only one it happened to.

Kira mentioned she'd been looking into a job at the local ice skating rink. She noticed her misstep almost immediately, but when Liam gave her a questioning gaze, she only shook her head in confusion as to what, exactly, she had said wrong.

Malia had once made a slightly derogatory comment about epilepsy patients, and, while it was indeed an incredibly insensitive remark, it wasn't really off par with Malia's normal commentary on the weakness of humanity's emotional ties, considering her general confusion/marvel at the concept of not leaving the disabled for dead. Certainly he hadn't expected everyone to freeze like they did, especially considering the day before she'd suggested that Liam's I.E.D. could probably be an evolutionary advantage when asserting his dominance in a forest ecosystem.

He knew there had been others before him. He just hadn't realized any of them were still alive.

**xxxxxxx**

Scott had barely made it to school on time. Liam noticed this because he usually sought him out before class, to catch up with him, making sure there hadn't been any important developments during the night.

He starts to send him a quick text before he heads into class, but before he does, he hears Scott's bike in the parking lot and decides he'll just check in with him at lunch. Maybe his alarm just didn't go off this morning. His lateness didn't always have to indicate some coming disaster.

When he meets up with Scott at lunch, he looks exhausted, but otherwise okay. Liam immediately asks him what's wrong anyway.

"Everything's fine," Scott assures him. Stiles rolls his eyes in annoyance.

"_Someone_ made a surprise visit last night, even though it's a _school_ night, and _nobody_ likes surprise visits. And I was under the impression that when he said he was staying in France, he was actually going to _stay_ in France. Like, forever."

"He's got a few days vacation, Stiles," Scott sighed. "Besides, I know you missed him a little bit."

"Are we talking about the same Isaac?" Stiles asked. "And the same me? Because I distinctly remember an Isaac snapping his teeth at a me in a threatening manner. But maybe we're thinking of different Isaac's and different me's. Because me and Lahey hate each other, Scott. Hate!"

"You did steal his soda," Scott reminded him.

"He's a werewolf, and I'm a mere human. My frail body couldn't take another trip down those stairs to find sustenance. Besides, he owed me for crashing my video game night with _my_ best friend."

"Deep down you like him," Scott grinned.

"He's an asshole," Stiles huffed. Liam snorted, and resolved to take Stiles' character review with a grain of salt. Stiles wasn't exactly pleasant all the time, either.

**xxxxxxx**

Liam went over to Scott's after school. Scott tried to help Liam with his homework whenever he could, trying to keep him on track. Liam appreciated it; he couldn't imagine how Scott has balanced his life after the bite on his own.

This day, though, Liam had finished most of his homework already. He had had a substitute in his math class, and she'd given the students a free period, which Liam took advantage of to finish his work so he and Scott could just hang out after school and relax. He hadn't realized that Isaac was still there.

It wasn't a problem, though. Anyone Scott liked, he generally liked too. Scott was a good judge of character. He was sure it would be cool to meet another werewolf, especially a friendly one.

And Isaac was _very_ friendly. Towards Scott, anyway. He'd been laying on the couch watching bad daytime television, but he perked up as soon as they entered the room.

"Scott! Man, you have no idea how much you miss American TV until it's gone," he said, completely ignoring Liam, who bristled at the slight. He was Scott's pack, he deserved acknowledgement. Besides, Isaac was thin and lanky. Liam could probably destroy him if he needed to. He deserved some respect.

Scott's phone rang then, breaking up the probably one-sided tension, and Liam could hear Stiles' voice coming through the receiver as Scott answered. "Bro! I hope you're not busy with Isaac. My battery's dead, and I have found a very nice man with a car, but neither of us have jumper cables. Can you bring me some? If you don't have any, I know I have some in my garage. I'm at the library."

"Oh God, Stiles, do you know what you're doing? Don't touch anything! Should I bring Kira?"

"Scott, I know what I'm doing. You just gotta hook the cables to the battery and then attach the other ends to, um, the other stuff," he said rather unconfidently. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Isaac raised an eyebrow.

Scott laughed. "Kira's on my way there, anyway, man. Seriously, don't touch anything, though," he warned.

"You're the best," Stiles said before hanging up.

"Are you going to be okay?" Liam asked.

"Yeah," Scott said, confused. "That Jeep breaks down all the time. No big deal, I'm just under orders from Stiles' dad not to let him try to fix it on his own after that time with the second degree burns."

"Are you sure? We could just call AA," he suggested.

"It's just down the road," he said, getting more confused by Liam's reluctance as the conversation went out. Liam chided himself for sounding like an overprotective mother. "I'll be back, stay here and keep Isaac company," Scott said.

Liam agreed because that's what Scott wanted, but that didn't mean he was happy about it.

"So what's your damage?" Isaac asked him as soon as they were alone.

Liam cocked his head, confused. "Sorry, what?"

"You know, your origin story filled with deep emotional turmoil. Abusive parents? Residual guilt from having your entire family burn alive because of your girlfriend? Adopted parents that never told you you were adopted? "

"Um, Scott saved me from falling off the roof of the hospital," he said, with his voice giving the slight upward lilt of a question, unsure if that was a sufficient answer to the question. He didn't want to get too personal.

Isaac laughed. "What, with his teeth?" he joked.

"Um, yeah."

He was quiet for a minute. "Wow."

"I know."

"So," Isaac tried to change the subject. "Have you learned everything there is to know about werewolves?"

"I'm learning," Liam said. "I'm still learning control, but other than that it's been fine."

Isaac nodded sagely. "Well, the cravings for recently buried corpses doesn't really start setting in until around the third full moon, so you don't have to worry about that now. Have you accidentally frozen any small children with your wolfy gaze yet?"

"I feel like you're bullshitting me," Liam said.

"Maybe just a little," Isaac admitted. "Now I'm serious. Any questions? You have the rare opportunity to ask an older werewolf to pass down his infinite wisdom."

"Scott tells me everything I need to know," Liam said.

"Yes, but Scott's lived werewolf life through the eyes of Scott McCall: True Alpha," Isaac pointed out. "He got kind of a different experience than us."

This was true, Liam thought. Scott had been a beta too, once, but he thought the circumstances had been a lot different. And besides, this was his chance. To ask the one thing he couldn't ask anyone else.

"Tell me about the alpha-beta bond," Liam requested.

"What about it?"

"What exactly does it entail?"

He felt suddenly uncomfortable with Isaac now carefully scrutinizing him. "Why?"

"I just- well," he stammered, unable to meet his gaze. "I just feel very protective of him," he said. That didn't necessarily mean anything, he reminded himself. If his alpha died, he'd be an omega, and it was purely a survival behavior that Isaac was going to confirm was completely normal.

"Well, Scott never had any attachment whatsoever to Peter. And there have been plenty of betas that just up and left," Isaac started, and Liam felt slightly nauseated as he realized his feelings probably did indicate something else, and he'd just admitted it to the object of his affection's good friend. "But I'd do anything for Scott," Isaac continued, and Liam immediately began to feel better. "I care about him a lot. And I'd devour anyone who tried to hurt him," he said, giving a pointed look to Liam, which the younger boy completely missed.

"Me too," Liam admitted. "So it's normal that we care about Scott and want to protect him? Because he's our alpha," he concluded.

"Well," Isaac frowned, thinking. "I mean, me and Scott also fucked a couple times, so..." he shrugged nonchalantly, trailing off. He watched in amusement as Liam started choking.

Stiles was right. Isaac was such an asshole.


End file.
